A €6,000-a-year dating service for wealthy high fliers has launched in Ireland

A €6,000-A-YEAR exclusive dating service has launched in Ireland, pitching itself at time-poor executives struggling to find love.

UK-based matchmaking service Berkeley International will open an Irish office, targeting busy careerists such as those in senior financial industry or tech jobs who can afford the hefty annual membership fee.

The firm says that it offers personalised matchmaking for each client and claims that as many as three-quarters of its members end up in a relationship within 18 months.

Speaking to Fora, Berkeley International Ireland director Hugh Redmond admitted that the service “won’t be affordable to a lot of people”, but added that if it proved successful for someone “it is money well spent”.

“The service is aimed at highly successful people and business orientated people, CEOs and CFOs of companies and people in IT and finance. People who have their careers in fine fettle but who don’t have time to organise their social lives.”

“For the past four years London has taken care of Ireland, but demand has gone up noticeably in the last 24 months (and) we needed someone on the ground.”

Personal profile

Unlike many dating websites, Berkeley is entirely offline. Members pay an annual fee and work with the agency to make a tailored ‘profile’, which is only shown to other members with both parties’ approval.

Redmond said it was a “highly confidential service” for those who were likely to worry about any public attention.

“Once a client expresses an interest we meet with them and go into minute detail about them from their childhood to the present day, their work history, their interests and things they’re passionate about,” he said.

“(Then) we develop a profile that has to be approved by the client. It is an offline service and there are no public profiles. My search is based on what is important to you and, when I find a suitable match, I pass the profile to you and you have to let your profile be viewed by the other person.”

Berkeley International Ireland director Hugh Redmond

He added: “We don’t use pictures; too many people make snap decisions based on images which may not be an accurate representation of that person.

“Part of the agreement is that clients must get back to us after the date to give us a breakdown of how it went. I have to understand what works and what doesn’t and can then adjust searches as required.”

Price

Membership for the service costs €6,000 a year for people to get access to the company’s roster of Irish clients, and €10,000 for worldwide membership.

The company currently has about 150 Irish members, which Redmond hopes to grow to just under 300 next year.

The firm has 5,000 members worldwide with offices in several cities including New York, Paris and Sydney.

Asked if the site maintains it difficult to maintain a gender balance Redmond said: “We attract more women than men, we find that they tend to address the issue of trying to find a partner in life more readily than a lot of men.

“Sometimes we have to gear the marketing to make it more attractive to men, whether that is through the style of the banner ads online or using Google ads.”